Writing the new nation in a West African borderland : Ablɔɖe Safui (the key to freedom) by Holiday Komedja / edited and translated by Kate Skinner, Wilson Yayoh.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Skinner, Kate (Katharine Alexandra Collier), editor, translator.

Yayoh, Wilson, editor, translator.

Kamedja, Holiday, editor.

Series:

Fontes historiae Africanae ; new ser. 16.

Fontes historiae Africanae sources of African history ; 16

Language:

English

Ewe

Subjects (All):

Borderlands--Ghana.

Borderlands.

Borderlands--Togo.

Decolonization--Ghana.

Decolonization.

Decolonization--Togo.

African newspapers.

History.

Ghana--History--Sources.

Ghana.

Togo--History--Sources.

Togo.

Genre:

History.

Sources.

Physical Description:

cv, 243 pages : illustrations, portrait, maps, facsimiles ; 25 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Language Note:

Main text and translations in English, facsimiles of newspapers in Ewe.

Summary:

"This book rethinks the history of decolonisation and new nationhood in the Ghana-Togo borderlands, and speaks to an increasingly urgent debate on the production of knowledge about Africa. It does this through the close reading, translation and analysis of a unique primary source - a newspaper entitled Ablɔɖe Safui (meaning 'the Key to Freedom'). Ablɔɖe Safui was initiated and sustained by a shoemaker named Holiday V. K. Komedja, and written almost entirely in his mother-tongue, Eʋe. Whilst many studies of nationalism have highlighted the importance of anti-colonial newspapers, this volume is unique - in its intensive focus on a single African-language newspaper, in providing translations of entire issues, and in following the story of decolonisation into the era of new nationhood. The manner in which Komedja recounted and explained political events challenges existing scholarly accounts of the rise and fall of Togo's first independent government, and of ethnic nationalisms and local loyalties within new nation-states. In re-reading the history of the Ghana-Togo borderlands through the pages of Ablɔɖe Safui, this volume demonstrates that intensive inter-disciplinary engagement with specific African-language texts is indispensable to the meaningful study of Africa and Africans in global history." --Publisher's description.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ABLDDE SAFUI (THE KEY TO FREEDOM) 22 ISSUES, EACH WITH TRANSLATION AND COMMENTS

AS 6 of 31 March 1959

AS 20 of 6 October 1959

AS 21 of 27 October 1959

AS 22 of 26 November 1959

AS 23 of 26 February 1960

AS 24 of 23 March 1960

AS 25 of 13 April 1960

AS 26 of 2 May 1960

AS 27 of 20 May 1960

AS 28 of 13 July 1960

AS 29 of 11 November 1960

AS 30 of 31 December 1960

AS 31 of 28 January 1961

AS 32 of 20 February 1961

AS 34 of 20 April 1961

AS 36 of 20 October 1961

AS 37 of 23 April 1962

AS 38 of 5 May 1962

AS 39 of 11 July 1962

AS 40 of 2 August 1962

AS 49 of 12 May 1965

AS 56 of 28 December 1965.

Notes:

"Published for British Academy."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-235) and index.

ISBN:

9780197266526

0197266525

OCLC:

1120078990

Publisher Number:

99985920493